HERTZ IS DRIVING ITSELF DOWNHILL
I've been a Hertz customer on a regular basis, and had always been happy with it in the past. This time...not so much.
What I liked about the experience: the branch manager at the Hertz office in Champaign, IL. She is VERY dedicated, very efficient, very courteous, very helpful. She deserves 5 stars or more.
What I disliked about the experience: just about everything else. Let's start with the website, which wouldn't allow me to reserve a rental at the office in Champaign, IL. Since that office is currently understaffed, the website shows it as CLOSED, which, I later found out, isn't. Why doesn't the website merely show that office as open with restricted hours, rather than closed altogether? Initially believing that office as no longer available, I had no choice but to list the airport as my pickup location. It's farther away; not my first choice, but it didn't seem I had any other option. But the website wouldn't accept the reservation at the airport without a flight number. So I made one up, and the website then accepted my reservation.
The branch manager at the Champaign office--the very office which the website shows as no longer in existence--noticed I had reserved a rental at the airport. She called me to ask if I was arriving by plane, which I wasn't. She then explained that rentals from there are ONLY for people arriving by plane (and why does Hertz stand in the way of a willing customer, based on my mode of transportation to get there?). But she assured me she had a rental car that I could pick up at the office in Champaign--which is where I wanted to pick it up all along, not that the website would allow it. So I picked up the car and dropped it off in Champaign, just as I had hoped. But if you ask the website, I picked up the car at the Champaign airport, and dropped it off at the office in Peoria--neither of which was true, but was the only option in the computer system.
Care to hear more? This was the first time I rented a car from Hertz which was delivered to me with a nearly empty gas tank.
And I wasn't crazy about the car either.
In short, this most recent experience with Hertz would have become my last, were it not for the VERY dedicated branch manager in Champaign, IL.
The branch manager gets a 5-star rating; Hertz gets a 1-star rating; which is why my review gets a 3-star rating overall.
Hertz had better do everything they can to keep that branch manager. If she leaves, I probably will too.